17. A First Date

Chapter 17

A First Date

THORIN

Nika had done the impossible. She managed to put most of the pack at ease, and offered them praise and pride-fueled compliments at the same time. None of it was put-upon. She hadn't made anything up. She truly was in awe of the stance our pack took about rejected mates and what to do with them. I too felt my chest swell with the same pride as she praised my pack. Still, I hadn't missed the looks that Catalina's family threw her way as she spoke. They were not among the pack when the clapping and celebration broke out. Instead, they sat quietly and refused to be a part of everything going on around them.

I understood that it hurt to know that their daughter's promised, chosen mate was moving on to another woman. It probably felt especially bad for them to know that had their daughter lived, we would have eventually been confronted by a moon-blessed mate for me that none of us knew existed. It would not have been wise or easy for me to deny that potential moon-blessed bond over one that was chosen.

It had been something that Catalina and I had discussed at length when we decided to give a chosen relationship a try. She had always told me that she would step back for the greater good of the pack if my moon-blessed mate ever presented herself. I always wondered how that would work, especially if Cat and I had managed to have children. Some of those conversations had taken place with her family present. They were the ones who encouraged us to think through all the potential problems, issues, power struggles, and even what would happen if either of us received our moon-blessed mate.

I would think, as a result, that they would be more understanding that Nika was there and would potentially become my Luna. It seemed a conversation was long overdue with them.

After the initial introductions, where each woman gave her name and spoke a little about herself - if they wanted to - the women all took a seat throughout the pack and enjoyed brunch. I purposely had Warren situate everyone so that there wasn't a singular table that could hold all the women together. They needed to learn to integrate with the pack as soon as possible, so they wouldn't remain a separate pack within my pack. That was not an acceptable way to move forward.

"I see what you did," Nika leaned in to whisper before she put a bite of pancake into her mouth and moaned around the fork. I swallowed thickly as that sound coming from her beautiful, plump lips did something to me. The tiny dollop of syrup left behind on her lip also made me feel a little feral. I reached over and swiped the droplet up with the tip of my finger before I ended up doing it with my mouth.

Nika smiled up at me and finished chewing her food before she spoke again. "Thanks for being my napkin."

"Sorry, I…" There was no excuse for what I'd done, but thankfully, she didn't seem disturbed by my actions.

"It's okay, really." Nika's hand came down on my own that now rested between us on the table. As soon as the contact was made I felt it again. The quick swipe of her lip hadn't been enough, but her hand on mine sent a jolting, pleasant zing of energy to zap between us.

"Wow," Nika huffed as she slowly withdrew her hand from mine. Carlotta, one of the two widowed females from Mirage Island cackled in glee across the table from us.

"You invoked the old ways of courtship and didn't realize what that meant."

Nika and I both stared at her, puzzled by what she said. As far as I knew, the old ways of courtship was just an agreement to take a specific length of time to get to know your moon-blessed mate. It was mostly used for those mates who had to transfer to another pack and were basically strangers when they met.

"Please, explain, Carlotta."

The good-natured widow's eyes twinkled with humor as she spoke. "The courtship period, once invoked, works against the couple to keep them from getting too close physically during the time period chosen. It is why those courtships were usually quick, less than a full lunar cycle. Doesn't anyone teach the old ways to the youth of the packs anymore?"

"Wait, you mean to tell me that invoking the courtship period creates a physical barrier of sorts between the couple and there is no need for a formal ceremony to make it happen?"

She swished her hand through the air, as if swiping away a pesky fly. "There was ceremony enough. You made a binding agreement between the two of you. That little zing you just felt will intensify with lingering touches, not diminish. So, fair warning, you will both have to remain chaste and refrain from touching one another. It is quite like electroshock therapy if you try to touch another shifter in an intimate way as well."

I glanced around and noticed that a few of the older generation snickered as Carlotta explained things to us. How in the hell was I the Alpha of the pack and didn't know this? I turned to Nika, who seemed highly entertained when she reached out and placed her hand on mine again - as if to test the theory. The zing immediately hit our joined hands and the longer she left it there, the more unpleasant it began to feel. Eventually, we could see sparks just as the stinging electrical charge stopped tingling and started to feel like mini shocks of white-hot electricity zapping our hands.

"That was very strange." Nika removed her hand as she spoke. Her eyes came up to meet mine. "I did not realize that invoking courtship had this particular consequence."

"Nor did I. Seems we need to add something to the curriculum for the children of the pack." Carlotta laughed again, as did some of the elders of the pack as I made mention of educating the younger members to something I had been ignorant of. The way the older generations behaved, made it feel as though they left this information out of our educations on purpose.

After everyone got their little teasing remarks in about how my mate and I wouldn't be able to touch, kiss, or give into the hormones that our closeness would bring, I finally leaned into my mate and whispered in her ear. "What did you mean earlier when you said something about seeing what I did?"

The smile that met me when she glanced up from her plate felt like a physical caress. "You split my pack and forced them to mingle with yours."

"What do you think of that?" I worried that she would feel I had overstepped.

"I planned to do the same thing. It isn't good for them to cling to one another overlong because it will ruin the chances of them bonding with your pack properly. Besides, they have things to learn. Some more than others."

We both glanced in Janella's direction. She was seated amongst some of the other single females of the pack and had plagued them with tons of questions throughout the brunch. Some looked upon her with amusement, others a tinge of pity. At first, they thought she was joking when she asked what something as simple as a pancake was. When my pack realized she truly didn't know, they helpfully explained and offered to answer any questions she may have.

"That was a hell of an icebreaker," I nodded to the group as Nika agreed. "Heartbreaking too. It makes me want to know who the male was."

"Which male?"

"The man who took your friend to the island. I want to know who he was, why he was there that day, and where Janella comes from originally. Someone should have to pay for keeping her from the packs all this time. The island was never meant to be a dump for orphans. It was meant to house females who were available as second-chance mates."

"We won't get into how gross that is, but I see your point. If everyone started to drop orphans there, it would be awful. They wouldn't survive."

"We'll get it shut down. The whole damn practice of throwing away pack members should have been outlawed long ago."

"This is one of my favorite places in the Grasslands Pack territory." Nika glanced at me as we walked through the forest to the spot that wasn't only my favorite, but one of the rest of the pack's as well. When the trees thinned and we stepped from beneath the canopy, there was a large space open to the sky and a huge pond that could nearly be classified as a small lake.

"What is this?" Nika glanced in both directions and noted that it flowed from a small river on both ends.

"That is the Sentinel River." I pointed upstream. "It feeds into this basin and then flows out again as the Lupa River."

"Why two names?"

"Legends have been told that people who drink from the river upstream are fine while those who drink from the river downstream of the pond turn into werewolves." Nika's eyes rounded and then she laughed. I chuckled along with her and delighted in the sound. I could already tell that making my mate happy would be a top priority. If for no other reason than to make sure her laughter was something I could hear daily.

"You don't have to feed me silly stories. This place is truly magical."

"While it sounds like a fun story for us, I assure you it is a true one. This anomaly is how we were able to procure such a large tract of land for our pack. The humans who live closest to us thought this land was cursed. I suppose older generations of shifters weren't as careful as they should have been, and that was how the legend started. Someone, somewhere drank upstream and saw a shifter drink downstream before their shift." I shrugged my shoulders.

"That part is speculation, but the legend exists, so humans did not want to swim in these waters. We are grateful to our ancestors who made it possible for us to have this glorious place without the need to hide who we are."

"That's amazing." Nika moved to take my hand and the minute our fingertips brushed, the zing zapped us both back to full awareness. "Sorry. I feel the need to be closer to you and yet, my own silly request means that I have to deny myself."

"We'll be fine, Nika. I don't resent doing this for you. After everything you've been through, I feel this is a small thing for me to prove to you that not only am I serious about you as a mate, but that I would never do what Aiden did."

"Somewhere deep down, I know it. I can taste the truth of your words on the air. Can we sit here awhile?"

"Yes, of course."

"There is another reason I have been hesitant, and I want you to know what it is, so that you understand. On the other hand, I don't want you to know because I don't want it to influence you in a way that…" She groaned a frustrated sound. "Some days I wonder why the gods chose to curse me with the choice of two mates."

"Curse?"

Nika nodded. "It isn't like they said: ‘We have two mates for you, enjoy them!'" She offered with a laugh, though I didn't find that prospect humorous at all. "They told me I had a choice between two mates, and one would be my downfall as a Luna while the other wouldn't."

"I think it's pretty obvious which one would have been your downfall."

"You would think that an Alpha who chose to have a harem is the likely choice as the one to cause my downfall, but Selene told me something that makes me worry."

"What did she say?"

"She said neither of you would seem like a great choice in the beginning."

I was taken aback by that. "Do you feel that way about me?" I asked.

Nika was quick to shake her head, which was reassuring, but then she fidgeted with the grass at her fingertips and sighed. "That's just it. So far, you seem to be the perfect choice, and I feel as though the other shoe will drop after I make my decision."

"Ah, I see why you were insistent on the courtship now."

"I'm being open about this, because you should know that it wasn't simply a flippant decision, and it is one that I'm struggling with too." She chuckled softly and I wished again that I could bottle that sound and keep it to pull out on bad days. "If we're being honest," Nika started to say, and I encouraged her with a tilt of my head. "I kind of want to jump your bones. It's so hard to hold back. When you swiped your finger across my lip earlier…" She shivered at the memory of how that one innocent little touch had turned her on. Now that we weren't among the rest of the pack and all their scents, I could smell her arousal as well.

"Maybe we shouldn't be too honest with one another about things of that nature. I slid about a foot further away from Nika. "I don't mind a little pain, but there's no way I'd bring electroshock therapy down on you." It was meant to be lighthearted teasing, but Nika pouted all the same.

"Yeah. I always thought the old courtships were a test of the strength of will for the mates who chose to invoke it." My mate shook her head and laughed. "Now, I see it was a punishment for not trusting the gods' judgement in putting them together."

"It does sort of feel that way. On the bright side, maybe this is the thing that makes me seem like a bad choice? Maybe we end up zapping each other a bit too much and you singe your hair or something?" We both laughed at that.

"Honestly, I hope that's it." Nika's voice was wistful. "So far, I love it here. The Grasslands Pack is beautiful and the way you live makes me proud to be even a small part of it. The pack house where I came from is a mansion that the Alpha lives in. They have so many rooms in it but the only ones who reside within the walls are the family and staff - who are given staff quarters that are less than desirable. There are opulent guest rooms in the mansion for visiting dignitaries, but for the most part, the pack house is a symbol of selfishness and greed."

"My family would hate it." It was the truth. Our pack house was meant to be a place where everyone in our pack could feel comfortable congregating. Not only that, but it was a safe haven for those who needed a place to stay. Many of our single members lived within the pack house.

"I hated it. When I first stepped foot into your place, I worried that it would be the same."

"Did you feel it was?"

"Nope," She popped the "p" sound a little and turned her head so I could see the beautiful smile on her face. "I was in awe of the place. Such a huge structure and yet, it felt like walking into a cozy home where you might sit by a fire, read a book, and never worry about your security even if you fell asleep while doing so."

My chest filled with pride at her description. "Thank you. That is probably the best compliment I have ever received about our pack house. Considering you will, hopefully, one day be the Luna of the Grasslands Pack, it pleases me to know you feel comfortable there."